


here it's december, everyday

by remrose



Category: How to Train Your Dragon (2010)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-12-20
Updated: 2012-12-20
Packaged: 2017-11-21 16:40:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,109
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/599895
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/remrose/pseuds/remrose
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Hiccup and Toothless travel to a trading post to get some herbs. And there's a huge lake.</p>
            </blockquote>





	here it's december, everyday

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Sprencenspire](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sprencenspire/gifts).



It was winter, alright.

Hiccup didn’t see why it had to make such a big deal about it. The thin webs of ice crystals weaving every outdoor surface, the way his lungs stuttered any time he took a deep breath of the frozen air, or the snow everywhere you didn’t want snow to be. Mostly in his boots.

Hiccup had been craving the height of the sky and the companionship of his best friend, but fate seemed to be dragging them apart as of late. Hiccup constantly called away to other things, Toothless dealing with the smaller, rowdy dragons. His dragon had expressed more than a couple days ago—in his own way, of course—the matching desire for time together, but Hiccup hadn’t had a moment to spare.

Hiccup is hoarding his current scrap moments of spare time in front of a roaring fireplace, valiantly hoping to dry his winter coat before he has to step out into the cold again. He has to go find Toothless, he’s just been asked for a mission and at least this time it involves his dragon.

Berk needs him to go down the coast to fetch some winter-only herb that’s crucial in the Elder’s medicine at a trading post. It’s supposed to be tricky, since the only way to get there in time to use it within it's small seasonal session is taking a dragon, but at the same time dragons are still forbidden in that area south.

He’s saved from having to search for his dragon when Toothless slinks in the side door, perking up when he sees his rider warming himself by the fire. Hiccup smiles and gestures him on, so Toothless hops beside him, giving him a poke with his head.

“Hey,” Hiccup curls an arm around the smooth dragon. “Up for a mission?”

Toothless glances at the door. _In this weather?_

“It’s important.” Hiccup stretches out his foot closer to the fire. “The Elders need this special herb from Huge Lake Post.”

Huge Lake Post is the trading post. It’s beside—you guessed it—a huge lake. Vikings are so imaginative.

Toothless lifts his haunches indignantly. _That place? It still has the dragon ban._

“Yeah, we just need to be careful.” He plays with the edges of his coat for a moment. “We should go soon, though.”

Neither of them moves from the intoxicating warmth.

Astrid comes in a little later, holding a hand drawn picture of the herb he’s supposed to be fetching. “Here.” She gives it to him, standing over the two in her winter gear. “Good luck, Hiccup.”

“Thanks Astrid.” Hiccup gives her a grateful smile, finally getting to his feet (foot, really) and examining the picture. “How much do we need to get?”

“Five full plants.” The blonde girl says, patting his arm. “Make sure to hide Toothless before you go into the post. Are you sure you don’t want back-up?”

“I don’t need two people to fetch a plant.” Hiccup laughs a little. Beside him, Toothless is flicking his tail, but Hiccup can’t tell what he means this time. “But thanks for the offer.”

The female Viking nods firmly, and gives Toothless a squeeze on the shoulder as she passes. Hiccup pockets the drawing of the plant, looking to his dragon.

He tilts his dark head. _You could’ve taken the back-up._

“We can handle it.” Hiccup brushes off the flecks of ash from the fire off his coat and looks to the door. “Are you ready to go?”

Toothless gets up, coming beside him. His ears flicker. _Whenever you say that, we usually can’t handle it. But yes, whatever you want, all-knowing human._

“Thanks for the sarcasm; you sure know how to make a rider feel special.” Hiccup ribs back just as sarcastically. Toothless huffs, rolling his green eyes as they step out into the biting wind and hard snow.

The two quickly head over to Hiccup’s home to grab extra gear and a sack of food. His father isn’t there at the moment, or else he would’ve stopped to say goodbye. As it is, he works on an extra layer, attaching the sack to Toothless’ saddle and tightening a hat and hood on his own head.

Toothless’ eyes give him a knowing, slightly over-protective look, so Hiccup gives in and takes his fluffy mitts instead of his flexible gloves. Warmth over mobility, today.

Despite the harsh cold, Hiccup is excited to get in the air, eagerly climbing on his dragon’s back and hooking his foot in the clip. The wind feels like it blows right through him, already cold before they even take off. He can tell it’s going to be a long flight.

Toothless must feel his initial shiver as he settles down, since he turns his head, clenching his jaw. _Are you sure, Hiccup?_

“Yeah. Let’s go.” Hiccup replies softly, shifting the tailfin into the take-off position. Toothless takes the hint, spreading his dark wings into the wind—like an lazy stretch—and they take off into the gloomy sky.

Hiccup loves the feel of the harsh wind submitting to the glide of Toothless strong wings, the swoop with every drop they play around in the air with. He’s grinning, covered fingers pressing on the scale protected skin of his dragon. The words always send a happy trill in his nerves— _his dragon._

He enjoys being in flight again, but he knows quickly that the long journey is going to take a lot out of him. His muscles feel rigid and clenched, the cold just rushing through him with the constant wind. A place between his mitts and jacket is exposed, and it’s so cold he can’t feel it.

He perseveres. It’s evening before they touch down again, Hiccup spotting the infamous Huge Lake. It’s pretty big alright, surrounded by snow dusted pine trees and stretching further than Hiccup can see even from his height. The Huge Lake Post is at the top of the cliff right beside the lake, rounded on the other side like a valley.

Hiccups steers them to land far out of sight. He swings off the saddle, ignoring the resounding chill to his figure and focusing on walking to the edge of this side of the valley to see the trading post better. Thankfully, his feet co-operate.

Toothless looks a little spitefully at the small stacks of smoke from houses they can’t see from this side. _You’re going into a Viking outpost alone. I could just come and scare them into giving us the herbs._

“I won’t be long.” Hiccup runs his fingers along Toothless head, making sure to sound confidant. “An hour, tops.”

The dragon makes a noise that is a lot like a sigh, and flops onto the ground, watching the smoke stacks. His lip twitches ruefully. _Fine. Go. If you’re over an hour I’m coming for you._

Hiccup opens his mouth to protest the limit, and Toothless gives him a very final look, so the human submits and nods. He fetches the bag of coins from the sack and pulls his mitts back on. It’s warmer here—the ice is a thin, moving layer instead of the stubborn blocks in Berk—but it’s still cold. Hiccup treks away from his dragon, memorizing the giant head-shaped rock at the mouth of the valley where Toothless is lying so he can find it again.

He follows the smoke stacks in the sky, singular foot crunching harder in the snow than his fake one. Once he gets moving, the blood moves around his body more than in a prone position for hours and he warms up just a little. He finds the post in a rocky break in the trees, a handful of buildings and an active trading part. He can see a man-made trail on the other side from where he came, leading towards the distant ocean.

The traders see him come in, eyes wary. Hiccup tries to avoid ducking his head, walking tall and searching for the herb trader. There’s a hot fire by one table and he lingers probably longer than he needed to there. But at least he can feel his five toes again.

At the end of the line of traders are the burlap sacks of herbs and plants. It’s at the beginning of the trail to the ocean, a narrow-eyed Viking with a long frosted beard watching over the herbs.

Hiccup figures he’d better just go straight to business with this guy. “I need five of these.”

He shows the picture that Astrid gave him. The Viking examines it without un-narrowing his eyes, then moves to a folded blanket behind him, opening it and showing Hiccup the plants. He nods, and the Viking takes five and gives them to him. He lowly explains the cost, and Hiccup fishes it from his pouch and gives it to him.

Satisfied—but on edge for a reason Hiccup cannot distinguish—he folds the plants into the padded pouch and slings it around his belt. He nods to his vendor and begins to leave, but then understands why the unease is niggling his brain. All the traders have their eyes on him, and the herb one he had bought from has disappeared from his post.

Hiccup knows when the signs are telling him to get the hell out of there. He walks firmly back the way he came, making it to the edge of the smatter of buildings to be stopped by a large man in his way.

“There’s only one reason you’d be coming from this way and not from the docks.” The huge Viking says, arms crossed. Behind him is the herb trader, narrowed eyes fixed cruelly on him.

“I walked.” Hiccup replies immediately and without hesitation.

The Viking raises an eyebrow, glancing pointedly at Hiccup’s fake leg.

At least he knows when he’s been caught. Hiccup fakes left and dashes to the right, breaking into the trees and hearing the Viking behind him call for them to ‘get him’.

“Toothless is gonna kill me.” Hiccup mutters to himself, glancing behind and seeing the tall, long legged Vikings already advancing. He swears under his breath, picking up the pace.

It isn’t enough. He hears a roar just in time to be knocked off his feet, skidding on the snow and being hauled up before he can even come to a stop. Two Vikings have an arm each, suspending him in the air.

“We don’t allow _dragons.”_ The huge Viking is in front of him. “And those who affiliate with the beasts.”

“I—“ Hiccup begins.

“Throw him in the lake.” The huge Viking doesn’t let him finish, and the men holding him chuckle darkly, moving back to the trading post. The blood drains from Hiccups face, and he starts to kick at the air.

“You don’t understand!” He tries, being brought out of the trees and into the watching, jeering crowd. “My father—“

“I don’t give a rat’s ass.” The huge Viking gestures to the long drop of the cliff. “And I enjoy finding and killing the dragon you came here on.”

_Toothless,_ Hiccup thinks with instant guilt, and starts to struggle more. The Vikings all around him laugh.

He sees an angry dark flicker across the valley, and he is instantly relieved and scared. Toothless could save him—or he could be killed along with him.

Before he can think much more, the strong arms swing suddenly, and the ground disappears from below him. He gasps, heart flying to his tongue, and he sees the wing span of Toothless, too far away to catch him, but close enough to see the fear in the dragon’s green eyes.

Hiccup doesn’t have any more time to process, because he’s underwater. It’s like being instantly stuck, unable to do anything but have his lungs spasm and heart stutter in his chest. He didn’t collide with ice, just in a split between them, but hitting the cold water might as well have been a rock hard sheet of ice. Panic flutters, overwhelming his chest and making him inhale in a reflex.

He struggles against the frozen surrounding, and finds himself in open air, hacking and spitting water. Then his head ducks under again before he can do anything else. The roaring of water in his ears, and for a minute that is all his world is composed of.

Finally he is lifted out of the water. His body feels like it’s writhing underneath the skin, and he hacks pitifully a couple more times to get the frozen water out of his lungs. He feels himself flying through the air, held around the middle by familiar dark claws. Before he can regain his bearings, he’s on the snowy ground again.

Hiccup can hear Toothless whine, low and concerned, but he’s rolling onto his hands to cough the remaining water onto the snow. He’s shaking, a deep-set shiver that racks his entire body.

“S-start a f-fire.” Hiccup commands barely, thinking of his soaked clothing, of his core temperature, and of how they’re going to get home.

Toothless scampers up, blasting a steady stream of his blue fire and melting the snow in a circle a few feet away from Hiccup. The dirt appears, the once-buried grass shrivelling up and burning. Hiccup tries to keep still as he watches, and his dragon takes a mouthful of tree branches, dropping them on the edge of the circle and lighting them on fire. He grabs a couple more mouthfuls, while Hiccup gets up very slowly on weak legs and moves to the now crackling, inviting fire.

The dragon sees him, eyes flashing. He jumps over, letting Hiccup use his neck as a crutch. The rider does without a word, which is the first sign that he’s not doing very well.

Toothless gets him on the dry patch and Hiccup struggles himself out of the thick outer coat. Then he slowly loses the layers all the way down to his thinnest long-johns, and places the clothing carefully to dry around the fire.

His body is stiff and uncooperative. But, he doesn’t feel really cold. Being a Viking in the north, he knows more than enough about what to do when you fall through the ice, but this is the first time he’s ever had to put it to use.

“Okay.” Hiccup says, but he’s very disorientated and isn’t quite sure what he was going for. Toothless lowers himself to the dirt, one wing as a layer over the cold ground and the other open in invitation. Hiccup nods to himself, climbing into the shelter between his dragon’s wings. The dragon ducks his head to cover the top, green eyes just visible to Hiccup.

_Are you okay?_ Toothless finally inquires with a prod of his head.

Hiccup weaves himself as close to the softer belly scales of his dragon as he can. The wind is cut off in here, and he can feel the fire through his wings. The dragon may be a reptile, but one that is lying next to an active campfire is just the right amount of warmth to slowly heat Hiccup up. “S-sorry. They threw me in the l-lake.”

Toothless twitches an eye. _Really. I didn’t get that part. Care to inform me why they did that?_

His reply is dry, but Hiccup can easily see the concern and leftover fear in Toothless expression. “Figured out I had a d-d-dragon. Didn’t walk in from the right way.”

Toothless makes a low keening noise, tightening his wings.

“I’m okay.” Hiccup curls up a hand, looking up and touching Toothless head. “J-just got to warm up. No big deal.”

_Sure. I’ll believe you when you stop shivering._

Hiccup shudders a breath in response, shifting impossibly closer to his dragon.

_Hey, hey. I’m gonna advise against sleeping at this moment._ Toothless brushes the top of Hiccup’s hair with his nose.

The human groans quietly. “S-sorry. Tired.”

_Try and keep awake. Talk about something._

“Like what?” Hiccup twists to meet Toothless’ worried green eyes again.

_Anything. Astrid, if you want._

Hiccup snorts a little, despite himself. “Why her?” he asks, voice sleepy.

Toothless quirks his ears inquisitively. _She is your mate._

The rider shakes head minutely. “Nah... I don’t really t-think of her like that. That’s—“ he yawns with a shivering jaw, shoulders flexing in a want to stretch but confined within the shelter. “That’s not really what I w-want.”

Toothless blinks visibly, even in the dim of the growing night. Hiccup shivers quite madly within his wings, so he pokes his head from the shelter and spits another ball at the fire, brightening it.

_Well what do you want, then?_ Toothless urges when he ducks back, stirring Hiccup who had been drifting off.

“Hm?” he flutters his eyes open, searching Toothless’ dazedly for a second. “I think I’d like to j-just be a rider, be with my best friend. I d-don’t really see a need for anyone else.”

The dragon is still for a second. _You don’t want a mate?_

“I-I don’t want to spend my time with anyone else.” Hiccup shrugs loosely, turning over stiffly to warm his other side against the soft underside of the dragon. “Why, do you?”

_Do I?_

“Want a mate?”

Toothless nuzzles Hiccup’s hair slightly with his nose. _There are no viable mates for hundreds of miles. Even if I wanted, I would not be given that option._

“Would you, if you could?” Hiccup reaches a stray hand up and brushes his dragon’s scales.

_No. I don’t think I would._ Toothless takes to nuzzling the hand now.

Hiccup takes a long, shivering breath, and nods to himself. “Guess we can j-just have each other then.”

The dragon makes a noise. _What, like a mate?_

He flexes stiff fingers against Toothless’ nose. “Like two people being together always.”

_Person and dragon._ Toothless corrects mildly, then huffs approvingly. _And I think I could live with that._

Hiccup just shivers. Toothless makes a worried noise and the human smiles up at him. “I’ll be fine. I f-feel warmer already.”

_I should’ve come with you._

“Shut up.” Hiccup says, rolling his eyes only slightly. “I’m the one who got thrown in a l-lake. It’s not your fault.”

_I’m the one who chose the most fool-hardy rider._ Toothless flicks an ear.

Hiccup stutters a laugh.

Later, with slightly damp-crusted plants—but still usable since it’s a winter bred specimen and therefore used to things like cold water—Hiccup is treated for mild hypothermia and a slightly frostbitten wrist in Berk. And the next time he’s approached about a girl, he just smiles and says, “My dragon’s all I need.”


End file.
